Mobile isn’t just a cute fad you can ignore, especially during the holiday season. 2012 was the “year of mobile,” with smartphone and tablet clicks increasing 63% and 14%, respectively, year-over-year during the Cyber Five.

1. be seen.
8 Tips to Convert Mobile Shoppers
This Holiday Season
Mobile isn’t just a cute fad you can ignore, especially during the holiday season. 2012 was the “year
of mobile,” with smartphone and tablet clicks increasing 63% and 14%, respectively, year-over-year
during the Cyber Five.
A study revealed that mobile percent of site traffic has grown at nearly double the rate of mobile
percent of sales. This shows that, while consumers are researching and browsing on mobile devices,
they’re not converting as readily.
We expect that mobile will continue to play even more of a role in future holiday shopping seasons. In preparation for the influx of traffic
during the holiday season, focus on these tips to help you turn those browsing shoppers into buying customers!
1
Explore Your Site as a Visitor
Put yourself in the customers’ shoes. Explore your site as if you were a first-time visitor. Is it easily navigable? Is customer
service and company click-to-call information readily available? How about the search function, navigation menu and the
product pages? Think about what you would find frustrating if you were a customer visiting the site, make note of it and
map out a plan to tweak the qualities of your site that would cause potential customers to bounce.
2
3
Make Sure “Add to Cart” Buttons are Accessible
Don’t bury your add to cart buttons two or three pages deep. You can spend big bucks on improving the checkout and
payment experience, but if users aren’t putting items in their carts, those investments aren’t as effective. Make sure add to
cart buttons are visible.
Meet the Need for Speed
Website speed is an overlooked mobile expectation. Research shows that 75% of online consumers left for a competitor
at peak traffic times if the page load was too slow. Google’s PageSpeed Insights will help you check site speed and
offer suggestions to make it faster. Keep in mind that improperly sized images can cause slow load times; a Rich Media
solution can address that concern.
4
Keep an Eye on Industry Leaders
Mobile initiatives can put stress on your wallet, especially if you’re a small or mid-sized business. But large retailers are
the testers and trendsetters on the mobile front. Watch them closely to see what’s working, what’s not and what how you
can pull pieces of what they’re doing successfully into your own mobile plan.

2. 5
Keep Conversion Rate in Perspective
We may sound like we’re contradicting ourselves here, but oftentimes low conversion rates are simply the result of
unqualified traffic. If you were to block all inadequate traffic to your website, it’s possible that your true conversion
rate might be higher. The lesson here is that conversion rate shouldn’t be the only website metric you’re watching.
Consider time on page and unique visitors, for example. Also, keep an eye on the bounce rate of your traffic coming
from your PPC and comparison shopping engine campaigns, and consider what you can do to drive more qualified
traffic from those channels.
6
Simplify Mobile Navigation
Even if you only sell one type of product, you probably have more segmentation and subpages for those products
on your desktop website than is ideal for your mobile site. Real estate is sparse on mobile devices. Don’t overwhelm
visitors; simplify their journey with a basic mobile navigation.
Optimize Product Media Display
7
8
If you’ve invested in product imagery with multiple angles and views, color swatching or video, be sure it’s optimized
for tablets and smartphones. The phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” was never truer; mobile visitors want to
see a clear product image, no matter what device they’re browsing on.
Consider EBay and Amazon Mobile
It’s no secret that a fully optimized mobile website with all the bells and whistles can come with a hefty price tag. If
your budget is conservative, consider approaching mobile through eBay and Amazon. Their mobile apps are the top
two most visited in retail and have a ready audience of millions of shoppers. If you’re listing on either marketplace,
your products will be available to these mobile shoppers. Learn more about the mobile opportunity of eBay and
Amazon in this eBook.
Conclusion
Put these tips to work and mobile conversion rates you can celebrate are in your future. Before the holiday season is upon us, use
these tips to choose the mobile initiatives that are most important for you to take on in the coming months.
For more information about how ChannelAdvisor’s software can help you Be Seen everywhere shoppers are buying on mobile,
including search engines, websites, marketplaces and social networks, contact info@channeladvisor.com.
866.264.8594
|
www.channeladvisor.com
|
info@channeladvisor.com